


You Don't Need To Run

by indigo_inkpot



Series: I'll Go With You [1]
Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: I'm not sorry, another AU, breath of the wild AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-20
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-07-14 21:51:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16049258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/indigo_inkpot/pseuds/indigo_inkpot
Summary: Hyrule has no idea what's about to hit it.What's about to hit Hyrule has no idea it's about to hit Hyrule either, so at least everyone is on the same page.





	1. The Shrine of Resurrection

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am hard trash for a certain band so congrats if you recognise the theme to titling in this series, you're probably hard trash for them too.

It's so cold. He needs shelter. The rain pours down in sheets, obscuring his vision but hiding his stark figure from the forest's less friendly inhabitants. 

He's already run into them more than once. His arm - or what's left of it - throbs, blood dripping into a puddle now he's stationary. He can't keep going, he escaped, he has to find somewhere safe before he collapses. His legs tremble, and he forces himself to continue staggering up the slope. He spots an overhanging rock, with a patch of scorched earth where a fire probably burned long ago, but decides it's too exposed. There has to be somewhere else.

Reaching the top of the slope, he almost cries at the barren, slippery cliff face that opposes him. Nowhere left to look. 

As if the universe has decided he hasn't suffered enough; he hears the chatter of monsters. No, no no no _no he can't fight them any more_. In a panic, he presses himself up against the cliff, praying he'll find a crack or hole he can cram himself into. There's no way one of the smaller monsters will be too big to fit, but they may just be too stupid. He pushes further back, pressing into the stone behind him. He feels a sharp rock pierce into the meat of his remaining arm, but he can't cry out. They're too close, if he even breathes wrong, they'll find him.

One of the curious, pig-faced creatures clambers closer and his heart stops. It's sniffing at his feet, how has it not seem him? Why isn't it calling over it's friends to rip him limb from limb? He stands there for a minute, two, three- fear distorts his perception time. All he knows, is that he stands there, shivering, until the monster...turns and walks away?

He's so distracted and exhausted that it takes him a moment to understand what happened, but the next thing he knows, the world fades back in and he's lying on his back, staring up at a brown stone ceiling illuminated by glowing orange lights along the walls. None of this makes any sense, and honestly? He's pretty sure he actually died out there in the thunderstorm, this is just his brain offering him some weird hallucination to soften the blow of his death.

Pretty weird hallucination. Is that running water?

He lifts his head, and while he can clearly see the rain getting heavier outside the mouth of the cave, he can't hear it anymore. The sound of water he can hear is a gentle sloshing, reminding him strongly of the bathhouse back home. The combination of heart-wrenching nostalgia and the certainty that he's already dead encourages him to crawl forward. 

It's hard going, he's weakened and losing blood fast- he slips in a smear of it when he tries to roll over, battering his arm and causing his vision to grey out for a while. Finally, after gingerly slipping down a drop and bracing himself against a half-open door, he finds himself in a chamber. At the centre, he sees a shallow pool of water. This was where the sound was coming from; the water laps against the side as if pushed by a current. He'd never seen the sea, but he remembered being told a story of the tides, and how large bodies of water moved with unexplained direction. This wasn't a large body of water, but maybe it still had a tide? He didn't know what constituted a tide, and crept closer to investigate. 

Upon touching his hand to the water, he discovered it was warm. A wave of tiredness washed over him, and in the time it had taken him to wonder what was keeping a pool of water comfortably warm in a cool stone environment, he's got both feet in the pool and is beginning to curl his body down into the water. He allows his body to sink into the water, finding himself comfortably buoyed by the two inches of warmth. 

The last thing he notices, is how the water begins to feel deeper, and his body lighter. Then, Shiro is asleep.


	2. Foothill Stable

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was dumb and didn't actually look at a map before I wrote this chapter. Hateno Village is not where I thought it was, so uh, this has been edited as of 21/09/2018

""Let's go to the beach" they said. "We'll have a nice time" they said. Ha!" The Zora laughed, gripping handfuls of sparse grass and yanking them out of the ground. He opened his webbed hand to the air and let the breeze carry the blades away. A few, damp with the rain of the previous night, clung to his wrist and frills. He huffed in frustration and shook his arm wildly, nearly smacking the large, round figure next to him. 

"Lance, come on, it wasn't that bad...right?" His companion fidgeted, scratching at his broad temple through an orange headband. 

"Pirates, Hunk! Pirates!" Lance leapt to his feet, gesturing wildly at the path leading over the hills and the cliffs of Upland Zorana. "They were cute, yeah, but  _pirates?!_ Nuh-uh, I gotta draw the line somewhere!" 

Hunk sighed, plucking another delicate flower from the grass and adding it to his growing basket. Lance had been chasing the same adventure-driven Zora for weeks, but clearly they had a taste for danger that outweighed any normal sense of self-preservation. It's a shame Lance hadn't realised that  _before_ the thing with the Lynel, but Hunk is just glad to have his friend in one piece and emotionally unscathed for the most part.

Lance flops down next to his Goron friend, and is quiet for all of two minutes before; "Hunk~..."

"Oh no, you know what Chief said! I'm not allowed to bring you any further than the Maw until you apologise for what you did last time, and find some more fireproof elixirs. You aren't built for volcano living, dude." He looks over at Lance, who is definitely sulking now.

"Hey, you'll find someone, alright? I believe it, somewhere out there is somebody perfect for you." 

"Thanks, buddy..."

"Wanna wear my flower crown?" Lance nods, and smiles when an intricate wreath of wildflowers lands on his fin. 

"Dude, you are  _wasted_ on that mountain top. Between stuff like this, and your cooking skills, you could go anywhere you wanted!"

Hunk blushes, something Lance will never quite get used to seeing a Goron do. 

"Hey, why don't we go on an adventure?"

Hunk looks horrified, "I thought you were done with adventures? I'm not going anywhere near those pirates!"

"No man, not that kinda adventure. I mean a journey, an expedition, a  _pilgrimag_ _e_!" Lance is getting worked up again, pacing back and forth across the hillside.

"Where would we even go?" Hunk clutches his basket.

"I don't know!" Lance sweeps his arms out, turning to face the valley and the fields beyond, "Everywhere!"


	3. Riverside Stable

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy, taking liberties with the stables because those things are not permanent-looking structures in the game.

"Okay, let's never do that again." Hunk sighs, hanging his freshly wrung-out headband and cloak from the bedframe. Lance sits on the floor between their beds, fins twitching happily as his body absorbs all the moisture he's been drenched in. 

"Aw, come on Hunk. You gotta admit that was pretty awesome!"

"No, it was pretty terrifying when you climbed on top of that Hinox to get yourself a new spear and got us both thrown into the Hylia River!" Hunk grumbles, getting out their map and beginning to flatten it out on the rug Lance is partly occupying, "Yeah, I get you were out a weapon but there are ways we can get that sorta thing. The last innkeeper told us we were a week out from Kakariko at the pace we've set so far, we coulda stocked up there without pissing off the big blue giant!"

Lance at least has the sense to look guilty when Hunk explains it to him, but the chastised expression doesn't stick around for long. Something catches his attention and he perks up, staring intently at the doorway. Hunk isn't fazed; he understands Hylian history, passed down by the long-living Goron elders. A gift from the predatory water-dwelling creatures they evolved from and exaggerated by their inherent skills with water magic; Zora possess a certain level of electrical sensitivity. It's stronger in water, but for the Zora who are especially gifted or train themselves to hone their talents, they can stretch this sensitivity to work in rain or even high humidity. 

Lance is one of the strongest electrical empaths of his generation, and all those in living memory too. His healing magic isn't as strong, but Lance has never been particularly motivated on the medicinal front. Hunk is pretty sure that when Lance finds a reason to practice, he'll improve exponentially. 

His own magic? Not so much. He's always been a powerful shield, but that often comes from using his own bulk and relying on his body's natural reflex to protect him. Throwing his shields and creating mirror shields are beyond him, always have been. He knows he should be able to, but the idea of hurting people makes him recoil. 

Something outside has clearly disrupted Lance's electrical field, because the long fins framing his face are twitching at the roots, and Hunk can see the way Lance's delicate nerves pick up disturbances. Sometimes, Hunk thinks his friend is as much spider as he is fish; he can picture Lance connected to a web of delicate invisible silk, which he's told isn't too far-fetched a metaphor. For Lance, his electrical field is so real he could walk the lines of it if he chose to. Hunk knows the minute before a man in heavy rags comes walking in, because Lance goes from thoughtful and distant to laser-focused on the doorway.

Hunk at least has the decency to pretend like he isn't watching, but the nosy Zora is fighting every urge he has to investigate the newcomer. Lance is friendly to a fault, and the last thing anyone wants after coming in from that heavy storm is to be accosted by an excitable, overly friendly Zora. Sighing, Hunk rubs his hand roughly across the bedding and ghosts it down the back of Lance's head. He flinches wildly, but he's definitely distracted now. 

"Does he look weird to you?" Way to go, Lance, that was really subtle. Hunk sighs.

"He's not got fins and he's not shaped like a boulder, so he's not as weird looking as either of us, dude." The stranger's shoulders, which had hunched the moment he walked in, seem to come down slightly. "Now help me with this map. If we wanna get to the next stable, we gotta go through the Duelling Peaks- ah, but that means we have to cross Hyrule Field first...there's no direct path?"

Lance, sufficiently distracted, shoves Hunk out of the way so he can peruse the map and decide if they're better using land or water crossings. Hunk takes a moment to look at the stranger. He does look weird, now that Hunk thinks about it. The other Hylians they've seen have been well prepared for the weather, wearing waterproof and warm clothing. This guy is wearing ragged pants and a dirty tunic. He has dark hair with a pale streak, flattened by the rain, and he's clutching a tattered piece of cloth, maybe an old curtain or a blanket in another life. He's shaking, and he seems to shake harder the longer he stands talking to the innkeeper. 

What happens next, happens in a split second.

Beside him, Lance twitches violently, before diving towards the counter. A second later, the stranger sways as his body crumples. Lance just barely breaks his fall; Hylians have delicate bodies compared to Zoras and Gorons, so Lance lets his body take the impact, and at the last moment, Hunk is able to throw a buffer to slow their tumble. The stranger's head rebounds sharply off Lance's body, but fortunately Lance is the kind of Zora that is lanky and soft, not as dense as some of his cousins. A nice cushion, for the now-unconscious Hylian shivering on top of him.

"Hunk..." Lance peels back the cloth, and under the sleeve of the tunic, Hunk can see an arm made of a material that any resident of Hyrule knows, deep in their bones. And any sane resident of Hyrule fears, deep in their bones.

"Yeah, Lance, I see it." Hunk pushes the guy's sleeve up, revealing more of the stone-like material, veined with channels of dim orange.

"This guy is part Guardian?"


	4. Riverside Stable II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eyyy Shiro was in two chapters and passed out in both of them. I'm a whump writer at heart and this series is gonna be my exercise in self indulgence.

"Oh man, oh man, a Hylian  _died on me_. Am I gonna get in trouble? Aren't they like a protected species at this point?" Lance fretted. Hunk could practically feel the anxious energy vibrating off the Zora.

"Alright, one; I don't think he actually _died on you_. He's really hot- like, I don't think they're supposed to be this warm - so he probably just passed out. Two; I'm not entirely sure he's Hylian."

"Well yeah I was ignoring the whole 'part Guardian' thing, I had a whole separate freakout prepared for that-"

"No, dude, I don't think he's even part-Hylian. Look at his face, he's  _tanned_ \- like, not weathered or something, he spends a lot of time in the sun. I don't know of anywhere with Hylians that ever gets enough sun for him to look like this in winter?"

"Dude, why does it matter whether he sunbathes? He's got the pointy ears, and Hylians change colour all the time- some of them do it on purpose!" Lance shrieked. The stranger's face pinched slightly at the sound and Lance froze.

"Look, it doesn't matter whether he's Hylian at not, at this point I would just really like it if he survives the night. And maybe ate something- have you seen how skinny he is? That's not normal right?" Before Lance could respond with another rant about any of the words coming out of Hunk's mouth, the other guy groaned, rolling over onto his side and clutching his abdomen.

"Hey- hey, don't do that, we don't know if you got hurt on the...uh, the way down. Lie still for me?" 

* * *

Lie still? Yeah, he can definitely do that. That might be all he can do, now that he thinks about it. Everything is a little hazy and if he didn't know better, he'd think he was drunk. But the sisters wouldn't let him go this hard, he's only allowed to indulge when there's a special occasion, and they watch his glasses. 

Wait...that voice wasn't familiar, and the floor was muddy wood. Also not familiar. And the pounding in his head was feeling less like a hangover.

Where was he?

He feels the bolt of panic down his back, and if he had been any less exhausted, he probably would've managed more than the twitch and groan he got from the adrenaline.

"Easy, easy," he feels a cool hand rest on the side of his jaw and neck. Well that's, wow, such a relief. The tension goes out of Shiro's shoulders as the cool feeling spreads down into his chest and settles there, unfurling like a flower and soothing his aches. 

"That's better," A hand, bigger than the one at his neck, slips itself under his upper back and levers him up into a sitting position. The motion sends Shiro reeling, he squeezes his eyes shut and he reaches out for support. His hand makes contact with warm stone. He's not expecting that warm stone to move, or  _talk_ but at this point he's not really in a position to fight anybody, much less this giant rock monster that's apparently kidnapped him.

"Please don't eat me," He groans, clutching at the rock's..arm? Yeah, he's gonna go with arm. 

"Hah, I wouldn't eat anything as skinny as you, dude. Plus, I don't know how much you know about Gorons but we're not big on food with such a, um,  _low density_ ," The rock laughs, and Shiro feels it rumble through the floor.

He finally gets his eyes open, and his vision clears now that he's upright.

In front of him kneels a sheepish looking Goron, grinning and holding - oh he's holding their hand. There's a presence at his back too, but turning to look results in an alarming tilt as he loses his balance entirely.

"Whoops!" The voice behind him gets uncomfortably close, and the cool grip shifts. Two cold hands brace on his shoulders, and a slender blue face appears next to his. Sharp eyes narrow at him. A quirked mouth opens - revealing rows of razor teeth - and says, "Hi."

"Hi," Shiro manages around a dry mouth. He's face to face with a literal force of nature and one of Hyrule's most efficiently evolved predators. 

The Goron pats him on the knee with their free hand, a hand which Shiro could probably  _sit in_ , they're huge. 

"Alright, let's get you into a bed, no sense staying on the floor all night." Shiro pulls back when they reach for his other arm (the one he's been trying to not-so-subtly hide).

"I uh, I can't stay here. I don't have any funds." The Goron's smile doesn't even falter.

"Yeah and I'm not letting you go back into that storm. Your choices are a bed or a bath. We can sort it out, okay? Lance healed you a bit, but not enough. You need to sleep and eat and probably go another round with my buddy and his magic hands before you do  _anything_."

Shiro let's his head hang, exhausted. He's got nowhere to go, no means to stay here. The thought of going back into the storm makes his body shiver and recoil. He can't, he  _can't, he won't survive._  

He's scared and he realises that for the first time in as long as he can remember, someone is in front of him holding out a lifeline, and all he has to do is take it.

"I know it's a lot," says the voice behind him, "But you can trust us. Me and Hunk, we can help."

He lets his hand settle in the Goron's - Hunk's - and casts a glance to the Zora - Lance - leaning over his shoulders. They're smiling at him, like he's doing the right thing, so he nods, and lets them help him off the floor of the stable.

"Oh man, wait until you taste Hunk's cooking. You are in for a treat!"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm using this story as an excuse not to engage with my actual real life. Don't mind me. I'm gonna dump chapters as I get progressively more stressed over life stuff.


End file.
